'I loved watching him play every day of his 123 Tests'

Virat Kohli hung up his Test whites on Monday, after a fantastic 14-year long Test career

IMAGE: Virat Kohli hung up his Test whites on Monday, after a fantastic 14-year long Test career. Photograph: BCCI/X

Former England cricketer Michael Atherton has said that he "loved" watching Virat Kohli play every day of his 123 Tests and felt it was hard for someone to take their eyes off the India stalwart when he dazzled on the crease in the red-ball format.

Kohli announced his retirement from Test cricket on Monday.

'You couldn't take your eyes off Kohli, that's what I always felt like watching him. It was noticeable to me that in his retirement statement, he referenced the challenges that Test cricket had given him. I loved watching him play every day of his 123 Tests. He put his heart and soul into Test cricket, and that energy and passion never seemed to dim,' Atherton told the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.

'It feels as though at the start of a new World Test Championship cycle, this is the moment that India will start to regenerate and reshape their team. We're not sure who is going to take his place at No. 4 yet, and you kind of pity the person who has to follow because you've just had about 15 years of Kohli and before that, it was Sachin Tendulkar,' he added.

SEE: 'No one embodied passion for cricket in India more than Kohli'. Photograph: Kind courtesy Sky Sports Cricket/X

Artherton's successor and former England captain Nasser Hussain believes Kohli transformed the way India plays Test format with his "aura, swagger, and passion".

'I have been a massive Virat Kohli fan over the last 14 years -- his stats speak for themselves -- but he was so much more than that. It was his aura, swagger, and passion. We know Indian cricket fans, and the game means so much to them,' Hussain said on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.

'They want their captain to show them what it means to the team, and no one embodied that passion for cricket in India more than Kohli. He was an unbelievable player. He took India to No. 1 in the world, and they stayed there for about 42 months. He completely changed the way they play cricket. Whoever takes on that mantle has got something to live up to,' he added.

In his sparkling career, Virat brought a shift in the paradigm of the Test format as a player and captain. He brought the curtains down as India's fourth-highest run-getter in the format with 9,230 runs in 123 Tests and 40 wins out of 68 fixtures as a captain.

Virat, a social media sensation around the globe, hammered 30 Test centuries and stayed at par with the four greatest batters of the modern age alongside England's Joe Root, Australia's Steve Smith, and New Zealand's Kane Williamson.